Today's Bible Verse About Love & Daily Devotional For Monday, March 2, 2020
Your daily devotional for today's Bible verse.
Today's Bible love verse, daily devotional, and prayer from biblical scripture are here for Monday, March 2, 2020, to teach you how to love and to grow your Christian faith using God's word.
Today's daily Bible love verse comes from the book of Romans 13:8
The Bible reveals that love is a form of currency all Christians must spend on others daily.
What is Christian love according to the Bible? Generally, no one ever thinks of love as a 'form of debt', but in the Bible, according to the Apostle Paul, every Christian is obligated to care for others generously. To love others satisfies the first and second commandments —
"Love the Lord your God and love your neighbor as yourself." (Mark 12:30-31)
There are many scriptural references in the Bible that describe what love is in the Christian faith, and each time it also comes with a reminder of God's forgiveness for those who trust in Him.
Forgiveness and love are so closely connected to the mission of a Christian, that Jesus said God will not forgive those who don't forgive others. In other words...he (God) withholds grace (his love) from Christians who refuse to show grace to others, including their enemies.
What did Jesus Christ say about love in the Bible that applies to Christians and God's grace?
The debt of love was the first message of love that Jesus preached to his followers when he spoke of God's love and how to get to heaven. His Sermon on the Mount included a powerful, foreboding parable told in Matthew 18 called 'The Story of the Unforgiving Debtor'.
Jesus told a story of a man in debt to the king who was forgiven of what he owed, but when he was released from potential imprisonment or death, he ran into a guy who owed him even less than what he had been told by the king he would not have to repay.
Rather than pass on the love that he had received, he became a giant bully and demanded his money back from his servant, a poor person who wanted to pay but was struggling to do so.
Word got back to the king that the man he forgave was being cruel and arrogant. This unforgiving debtor's gratitude was short-lived and it angered the king.
In the eyes of the king, the debtor he forgave ought to have extended the king's forgiveness to the poor as a debt of love received.
However, because the debtor acted with greed and anger toward a fellow debtor, the king rescinded his forgiveness and decided to throw the unforgiving debtor into prison.
The unforgiving man was guilty of being an unforgiving person. It was as though he had never had been forgiven at all, and he treated the king with disdain by acting more prideful and worthy than the king himself.
This parable taught by Jesus to his first followers continues to have significant meaning for Christians today. At the core of Christianity is the belief that all have sinned, and fallen short of the glory of God, but through the gift of Jesus's death, the debt of sin has been paid in full. (Romans 3:23)
Christians are not to judge, make demands that imperfect people act perfectly. To do so withholds grace and love to the lost. Unforgiving is an act against the King of all Kings, and in essence, acts as the unforgiving debtor did.
Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others. (Colossians 3:13, NLT)
"But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins." (Matthew 6:15, NIV).
Here's what the Bible teaches us that love is according to today's daily devotional study and biblical interpretation of Romans 13 scriptures for Monday, March 2, 2020.
In Romans 13, the Apostle Paul reduces the moral of Jesus's teachings down to its core element: love and grace. Paul urges Christians to avoid being like the unforgiving debtor.
While he does suggest Christians should owe nothing to anyone in monetary terms, he preaches that the Christians must carry and repay the debt of love to other people.
Just like Jesus preached at the Sermon on the Mount, His followers are debt-free but if a Christian demands repayment from a person who is in debt (which could be lack of love or resources), grace is required.
For Christians who withhold love and grace to non-believers, the debt of sin remains. To withhold love is anti-God and to demand that others do what you were unable to do yourself, is to demand more than what God asked of you.
Unforgiveness is an act of pride and fails to witness the light of God's love and forgiveness to others (1 John 5:10). The act of love towards others is the only way that Christians are to act — love is a living testimony of God's love.
"But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” (Mark 5:19)
In a world where demands of love or forgiveness of any form of debt reek of entitlement, it's possible that demanding love is rarely identified as being something godly by Christians, but sadly, those who feel that way would be wrong.
According to today's daily devotional and Bible verse — love is a law.
The law of love commanded by Jesus of His followers is more than an emotion that makes you feel good inside.
“We urge you, brothers, to admonish those who are idle, cheer up those who are discouraged, and help those who are weak. Be patient with everyone.” (1 Thessalonians 5:14)
Highly likely that the unforgiving debtor could have shown grace by his actions and let his own servant go free, (and still feel pained by doing so on the inside).
But the king (like God) doesn't judge feelings. Bible clearly says it's okay to be angry, but don't sin while you're feeling it, according to Ephesians 4:26-32.
God's love is agape love. According to St. Paul, agape love is the highest form of unconditional love — the love expressed by God himself.
What did God do for love? According to John 3:16, out of love, through Christ, the only Son, He paid for the entire world's debt, a debt He owed as Creator.
“Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law." — Romans 13:8
In Greek, agape love is the circle of love that should never be broken. If it all belongs to God, forgiving all debts is something the King of all Nations asks Christians to do for one another — daily.
“To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.” (1 Peter 2:21)
According to today's daily devotional and Bible verse — love is forgiving.
Forgiveness is a debt Christians repay daily — a form of love in permanent obligation bore from a heart of gratitude and grace — that can never be considered as paid in full to friends, to enemies, nor to the self.
Treating someone like you would want them to be towards you is respectful, balanced and fair. However, life is imperfect.
People let you down. Who hasn't loved someone who didn't return the sentiment? We all have. In fact, that is also why Jesus said in his first sermon that believers are also to "love your enemies" (Matthew 5:43-48) because it's a piece of cake to love someone who loves you in return.
But to love an enemy requires sacrifice, selflessness. It takes great humility to love a neighbor who hates you or wishes the worst on you. It's the act that God performed himself and cost Jesus his life.
Love is the greatest commandment to fulfill, according to scripture, because and it requires the Holy Spirit to flow through a willing heart that is open to forgiving others as they have received the same level of God's grace. It is proof of agape love in action.
According to today's daily devotional and Bible verse — love must have action.
What is love without action? According to the Apostle Paul, love without action is dead faith. According to James, the brother of Christ, the first biblical writer to break the silence of the gospel — "Faith without works is dead." (James 2:14-26)
So, to love is to do. To forgive is to love like God. To love like God is to have evidence of God's spirit within you.
To show love to your neighbor who hates you is not only obeying God and fulfilling His first and only great commandment, but it is loving yourself... because basically it secures you from God's own judgment.
By removing the debt of sin, guilt, pain from the past, He asks for one thing to do in return to demonstrate his outpouring of grace in our lives.
According to today's daily devotional and Bible verse — love is proof you're a child of God.
Our ability to love others is a living testimony of God's love active and well in our lives. Ever met someone who was angry or bitter?
Chances are that that person feels pain on the inside that the action of love can reach, but not without first dealing with the bitterness, anger, and resentment... all difficult to endure, but not if you have the power of God's love working through your heart.
If you're like me, you've fallen short on accomplishing that goal. I personally run in the other direction whenever someone I cared for comes around and I know that they don't like me.
It's a blow to the ego to be around a person you know isn't on your side, but to run is to act in fear, and to be in fear means not walking in faith.
According to today's daily devotional and Bible verse — love is egoless.
However, to love yourself is to forgive and let go even when your feelings scream inside that you would like to get what you are owed.
But, the truth is it all belongs to God — and if you really are a true Christian believer, you already know that when you die, you can't take anything with you anyway.
In fact, to think that you've stored up treasures for yourself, according to the Bible is the height of foolishness. (Luke 12:20)
According to today's daily devotional and Bible verse — love is the only way to heaven.
God is love. The only thing that lasts is love. Love is a superior emotion that transcends all space and time. Love is grace. Grace is eternal, even when bitterness strikes, forgiveness wins.
A daily prayer for today.
God, help us to always pay the debt of love. Teach us to walk in faith and to act without fear, even if pride screams to do the opposite. Help us to avoid faith without works. — Amen.
Aria Gmitter, M.S, M.F.A., is YourTango's senior editor of horoscopes and spirituality. She earned her degree in comparative religious studies at the University of Miami and is a member of Theta Alpha Kappa, The National Honor Society for Religious Studies and Theology.